I asked this question earlier in the thread but before I begin tomorrow I'd like to hear if there are any other thoughts. Besides about 8000 IU of Vitamin D3, capsules in soybean oil, I take 1Tbl of beef gelatin granules mixed in water, twice a day. The gelatin has some protein in it, I forget how much. Will that interfere with success?

It's hard to say. I take D3 10,000iu/day. Maybe try first 3 or 4 days w/o the gelatin then add it in.

If you have fat to lose, you will lose it first as long as you are getting the proper essential amino acids--potatoes provide them.

Last time I did this, I did not lose any strength as measured by lifting and running capability. If you ate potatoes for months on end you would probably see detriments to health, but not 2 weeks.

Strength / lifting ability is entirely the result of functional motor unit recruitment, or in other words, a neurological adaptation. It is impossible for one to recruit all functional motor units at once. At best you can get a fraction, and this is a good thing because it prevents your muscles from snapping your bones, tearing tendons out of the origin / insertions, as well as giving you stand-by motor units to recruit as the principal ones fatigue. So, if your lifts / strength are unaffected, all that shows it that you haven't suffered in the functional motor unit recruitment department.

Note that you may have actually gotten weaker, even though you were able to lift the same nominal weight. You would need to attempt to quantify your perceived effort while doing this. There are various scales out there that can be used to do this.

So why would you go down after one day of potatoes but up 4-5lbs after one day of a carb refeed?

If this is as effective as a weekly fast, could you just do a weekly potato fast?

If one is following a low carbohydrate diet, then muscle and liver glycogen will be quite low. Eating carbohydrates during a "refeed" would then cause the muscles to load up on glycogen and 3 grams of additional water per gram of glycogen to keep it all in solution. If, on the other hand, you were eating a moderate amount of carbohydrates, such that overall your muscles were not glycogen depleted, you would not expect dramatic changes in weight due to increasing your carb intake.

A general rule of thumb is that whenever your weight fluctuates significantly, several pounds during the course of a single day, it is most likely water or undigested food, especially if you eat a lot of fibrous vegetables.

As far as the effectiveness of this approach, let's crunch the numbers: my BMR is about 2000 calories / day. In order to ingest that many calories eating only potatoes, according the USDA nutrient database, I would need to eat about 5 lbs. of baked potatoes. This is an onerous amount, and I would be hard pressed to eat half of that in one day. Assuming that I could eat 2-3 lbs. of baked potatoes each and every day, that means that the "potato fast" translates into a severe calorie restricted diet, where I would be eating 1000 calories below my sedentary, just breathing, heart pumping, never mind actually moving about, basal metabolic rate requirement of 2000 calories.

If you can't lose weight over a two week period eating half of your BMR caloric requirement, irrespective of whatever it is that you are eating, potatoes, pork rinds, straight lard, then you are most assuredly sleep eating, because that is the only possible rational explanation.

Strength / lifting ability is entirely the result of functional motor unit recruitment, or in other words, a neurological adaptation. It is impossible for one to recruit all functional motor units at once. At best you can get a fraction, and this is a good thing because it prevents your muscles from snapping your bones, tearing tendons out of the origin / insertions, as well as giving you stand-by motor units to recruit as the principal ones fatigue. So, if your lifts / strength are unaffected, all that shows it that you haven't suffered in the functional motor unit recruitment department.

Note that you may have actually gotten weaker, even though you were able to lift the same nominal weight. You would need to attempt to quantify your perceived effort while doing this. There are various scales out there that can be used to do this.

I think the tweeks (tweaks?) will make it interesting. I've decided to make my own veggie broth instead of buying it. While "straight up potatoes" is probably more effective than any tweeks, I'm guessing this will still work as long as no fat or protein are added. This is why things like cabbage soup, leek soup, and grapefruits have been used to crash off weight. Here, Otzi proposes potatoes because it has a decent nutritional profile. I wouldn't use any bone broth I have because there would by definition be too much protein and/or fat.

Anyway, I still have to go to the grocery store. I haven't a potato in the house and usually buy one medium russet when I'm in the mood. I couldn't even guess the last time I bought quantity.

If one is following a low carbohydrate diet, then muscle and liver glycogen will be quite low. Eating carbohydrates during a "refeed" would then cause the muscles to load up on glycogen and 3 grams of additional water per gram of glycogen to keep it all in solution. If, on the other hand, you were eating a moderate amount of carbohydrates, such that overall your muscles were not glycogen depleted, you would not expect dramatic changes in weight due to increasing your carb intake.

A general rule of thumb is that whenever your weight fluctuates significantly, several pounds during the course of a single day, it is most likely water or undigested food, especially if you eat a lot of fibrous vegetables.

As far as the effectiveness of this approach, let's crunch the numbers: my BMR is about 2000 calories / day. In order to ingest that many calories eating only potatoes, according the USDA nutrient database, I would need to eat about 5 lbs. of baked potatoes. This is an onerous amount, and I would be hard pressed to eat half of that in one day. Assuming that I could eat 2-3 lbs. of baked potatoes each and every day, that means that the "potato fast" translates into a severe calorie restricted diet, where I would be eating 1000 calories below my sedentary, just breathing, heart pumping, never mind actually moving about, basal metabolic rate requirement of 2000 calories.

If you can't lose weight over a two week period eating half of your BMR caloric requirement, irrespective of whatever it is that you are eating, potatoes, pork rinds, straight lard, then you are most assuredly sleep eating, because that is the only possible rational explanation.

-PK

Does everybody who does carb refeeds do low carb? Or don't they just do more carbs after a workout than normal? I mean, Chaco does carb refeeds but I don't think he's particularly low carb on a normal basis. That's what I was wondering. Why can you expect a carb refeed to add glycogen weight after one day but people here doing this potato fast thing are noticing weight loss on day 1. Is everybody here doing the potato fast coming from a higher carb version of primal?

I am a little over two weeks into my Whole 30, and I am making a jump-cut to the potato fast tomorrow morning. I just went out and bought two 15lb bags of potatoes and some hot sauce. I will make a before/after thread with my results pics. Stay tuned!

this great blue world of ours seems a house of leaves, moments before the wind